Lost starving in an iron labyrinth of kiosks Found darting through the scurry of strange feet Lost to the offer of escape Found staring through the open door Lost your fear Found my playfulness Lost a country Found a home Lost a mother Found resilience Lost your place sleeping at my feet Found your way…
Indian Summer
It was a miracle day a month ago, a hot miracle of an Indian summer when Ben and I went for ice cream and, in reliving a special memory, we created one even more special. Over the last few months, but really over the last couple of years, I’ve been contemplating writing a book, one that will…
Ben ~ In Memoriam
It was a rainy morning, a forecast filled with tears. Ben, the miracle dog, has left us, left my hearth, but not my heart. These past few days have been the saddest of my life — and that isn’t hyperbole. It seems only right that it has poured rain almost non-stop here for two days, save…
Endurance ~ My Best Friend
© Dale Schierbeck 2014 At 18½ years of age, my very special best friend, Benjamin, endures like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Wrestled from the streets of Warsaw as a pup, he has endured a life with me that has taken him half-way across the world and then to Canada’s North and then again half…
Duck Magret with Sour-Cherry and Port Sauce …
This creation was me saying happy birthday to Benjamin, my über wonder dog of 18 years. That is to say, I’m not the only one in the family that gets weak in the knees when someone says “duck.” Truly, it’s a wonder that over the years I haven’t been beaned with a softball between the eyes…
18 Forever ….
My boy … my friend … my companion … my muse … my spiritual guide and teacher. My Ben …. On April 25th, Benjamin reached the truly remarkable milestone of 18 years. He has seen two centuries, three decades, two countries, two continents, five cities … and more than anything, he has seen me grow…
Homemade Super Dog Food … aka Ben’s Breakfast
If I have a finger for every love in my life, one is given to food and another one, likely an opposable thumb, is given to Ben, my dog. Together, those two loves have produced this recipe for homemade dog food which I have been feeding to my super/wonder-dog for years. For those new to…
Adjustments
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from My Canadian Eyesight) I am not going to share pictures of this, but over my four years abroad, I had discovered a Bohemian that was living inside me … and I had the attire, the long hair (yes) and the beard to prove it. Honestly, in the moment, it…
My Canadian Eyesight
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Panic Attacks) Home is a blur. I mean that in all manners: it was fast, sensory overload, a long-time ago, and it was disconcerting. I know that I experienced full-on culture shock. I remember walking Ben on the streets at dusk thinking that someone had quietly dropped a neutron…
Panic Attacks
Chapter 3: Canadian Soil (continued from Export) Leaving Poland was surreal and it remains surreal in my memory. Once we returned from Turkey on October 20, we had but a week remaining to finalize our departure. The Bolesławiec had been shipped before we left for Turkey. After investigating all options for transport, I elected to…